Miles Associates LLC

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council recently published a “Prioritized Approach” to complying with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) version 1.2.  This is to allow merchants that are just starting their PCI compliance journey to achieve the most risk reduction as early in the process as possible.

The Prioritized Approach does not mean that the merchant can get by with only partially complying with the standard.

The official site for the Prioritized Approach is here.

If you are just starting your quest for PCI compliance, Miles Associates has an experienced team that can help you.  We will use the Prioritized approach to map out your journey, and then provide services so you have the security measures, processes, and policies needed to protect your customers, your reputation, and your income.  Contact us today!

Watch out for “TwitterCut”…

Twitter users have been tricked into divulging their login and password details to a Web site that then spammed their contacts.

via Twitter Gets Targeted Again By Worm-Like Phishing Attack – CIO.com.

By friend Beth said it so well… Check out her post at the link below.

As we gather around our grills and barbecues with friends and families, I challenge each of us to take time to think about the true meaning of Memorial Day.

via Leadership Insights from Executive Velocity: Remembering Memorial Day 2009.

Here’s a nice freebie from my previous employer!  (You need to give them your contact info to get the themes).

PEER 1, a global online IT hosting provider, has partnered with Lisa Sabin-Wilson, celebrity blogger and author of “WordPress for Dummies”, to offer free premium blog templates, valued at $1,200 each, designed exclusively for PEER 1 and ServerBeach.

via PEER 1 Provides Free WordPress Themes.  Click here to go straight to the themes.

May 15, 2009:

A new round of Web sites hijacks is attempting to install malicious, Google-focused software on unpatched PCs, …cementing the drive-by-download approach as a bad-guy tactic of choice.

The attack, dubbed “Gumblar” by ScanSafe, starts by hijacking legitimate sites and inserting attack code. The more than 1,500 hacked sites, including Tennis.com and Variety.com, don’t represent an especially huge number, but its growing rapidly. Since last week, the attack has grown by 80 percent, according to the company, and has spiked 188 percent since yesterday.

The attack code has largely gone after PDF and Flash flaws discovered in the last year … these particular assaults can be largely neutered by making sure you have the latest versions of the Adobe software.

… The PDF attack approach is more bad news for Adobe, whose programs have become a favorite target of late.

via Gumblar Hacked Sites Install Google-Targeting Malware.  (CIO Magazine)

Canadian web hosting provider PEER 1 Network Enterprises www.peer1.com announced on Tuesday that it has begun construction on a 41,000 square foot “green” data center in the Toronto area.

via Web Hosting Industry News

Two security researchers open-source code that can be used to take control of versions of the Microsoft Windows 7 x64 operating system. The team decided to release the code despite initial reservations over security.

“All we are trying [to do] is help more people understand the real enemy, malware … So, this might trigger up new ideas in [the] security industry to help solve the problem,” Kumar wrote. “We are still using age-old methods … to detect malware.”

via eWeek.